When one thinks about the artistic career of Ruth Litwin the word that comes most readily to mind is limitless. That’s because Litwin has never limited herself to any one style or medium. She has sculpted with bronze and stone, painted with almost every type of paint, created with torn paper, sequins and collagraphs, and developed a printmaking process where she uses Masonite or PVC with ink.
In her atelier, Litwin, in her 80s, operates what looks like a printing press from the Gutenberg age as she experiments with collagraphs, creating plates, wiping away ink and pressing prints with varying effects. “I am always experimenting,” she says with a smile. “I have adapted to be able to explore with many mediums. My favorite medium is whatever I am using at the time.”
Litwin began her artistic journey in her late 30s at a time when she felt like she was losing her identity. Getting involved with art was the solution, and while she notes that her art may not look like it, her creations are all biographical.
Part of her style is to give herself creative limitations and see what happens. One of these limitations is that she loves to create from whatever is on hand. “I ask myself, ‘What can I make with what I already have?’” What she has is a career that has spanned nearly 50 years.
Litwin has garnered numerous awards and honors, has works in the collection of the Dallas Morning News, and was included in the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program, through which her work was exhibited in embassies around the world for eight years.
Not one to slow down, Litwin will continue exhibiting her work in the Women in Print exhibit that opens March 12 and runs through April 23 at the Bath House Cultural Center.
Litwin is one of 16 women who have been invited to be part of the show, all but one from the Dallas area. The women were selected by Susan Verhelst, curator of the exhibition, based on each woman’s high quality of work as well as the different printmaking techniques each employs. During the exhibition there will be lectures and demonstrations of printmaking that explain the process.
dallasculture.org /bathHouseCultureCenter, 214-670-8749
